ABSTRACT
The movie Memphis Belle depicts, in a wartime context, a few of the core concepts of economics. This chapter discusses some of the mechanics of the United States Air Force (USAAF) conduct of the strategic bombing campaign against Hitler’s Germany. Those mechanics center around the USAAF’s use of the B-17 Flying Fortress and how operation of such an instrument of war involves the concepts of division of labor and specialization that Adam Smith discussed in his now-famous treatise on economics. The 1944 edition of the USAAF’s Pilot Training Manual for the B-17 Flying Fortress provides a blueprint of the type of specialization and division of labor discussed by Smith in describing the manufacture of pins. The chapter reviews the operation of a B-17 threw the Hollywood’s portrayal of the air war over Europe in the movie Memphis Belle. In presenting this review, it highlights the core economic concepts discussed first in 1776 by Smith – division of labor and specialization.
